According to MHA data, the country has recorded a spike in the number of communal riots in 2017 and Uttar Pradesh has topped the list. The highest number of communal incidents in 2017 were reported in Uttar Pradesh where 44 people were killed and 542 others were injured in 195 communal incidents.

The highest number of communal incidents in 2017 were reported in Uttar Pradesh where 44 people were killed and 542 others were injured in 195 communal incidents.

In December 2017, the Allahabad High Court had ordered the suspension of two district magistrates — Rajiv Rautela and Rakesh Kumar Singh — in a case related to illegal mining from Kosi River in Rampur district. Rautela and Singh were accused of promoting illegal mining during their tenure as district magistrates in Rampur despite the ban on mining in Uttar Pradesh.

The Allahabad High Court had also directed the UP chief secretary to take disciplinary action against the two DMs and submit a report on 16 January, 2018. The High Court had given instructions to investigate the role of administrative and police officials in the case and to take departmental action. There is no word on that report.

Amid all this, the man behind the unprecendented gag order on the media happens to be Rautela. Setting up a huge political controversy, officials in Gorakhpur - the home base of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath - blacked out the counting for parliamentary bypolls and banned the media allegedly as soon as trends started favouring the opposition candidate over that of the ruling BJP. Rautela reportedly walked into the counting centre and stopped personnel from giving updates to the media.

The Lucknow Assembly was also adjourned over this issue as Opposition created ruckus in the House.

Bharatiya Janata Party's bypoll blues: How the saffron party has fared in LS by-elections since 2014

20:43 (IST)

Akhilesh Yadav calls on Mayawati to thank her

19:27 (IST)

SP wrests Gorakhpur, Phulpur Lok Sabha seats

In a major blow to the BJP, the Samajwadi Party, backed by its otherwise bitter foe BSP, wrested the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat by 59,613 votes and bagged the Gorakhpur seat with over 21,000 votes.

18:37 (IST)

BJP forced backwards, Dalits, poor people to unite against it

Akhilesh Yadav said that whichever party hurts the people have to pay the price, and the BJP's policies have been such that they have harassed the poor, backward and Dalits in the state. "They came to power on big promises but they failed to deliver anything," he said.

"Acche din to aaye nahi, kam se kam inko bure din dikhane ke liye janta ekjut ho gayi (The promised good days never came, but it reunited the people against them)," Akhilesh said.

Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP and Akhilesh's uncle Ram Gopal Yadav, who is credited for bringing Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party on the same table, today thanked the party's workers for ensuring the SP candidates' win. He said the people have openly rejected the BJP's divisive rule and its policies.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath conceded defeat as trends became clear in Gorakhpur, and SP won Phulpur with over 59,000 votes. Speaking to the press, he said that his party will analyse the reasons of defeat and improve its performance. He, however, conceded that overconfidence may have cost the party the two Lok Sabha seats.

Adityanath also said that the BJP failed to preempt and prepare for the opportunistic and incompatible marriage of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party in the elections.

17:31 (IST)

Congress candidates lose deposits in both seats

According to ANI, Congress party candidates have not been able to even save their security deposits in Phulpur ad Gorakhpur. This would be a major set back for the party as the politically important Phulpur seat was once represented by Jawaharlal Nehru.

According to Election Commission website, a defeated candidate loses his security deposit if he/she fails to secure more than one sixth of the valid votes polled in the constituency.

Speaking to reporters in Lucknow, BJP UP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey said that the poor polling percentage could have affected the results in the state. "We will analyse and work on the places where we lacked and will work harder and perform better in the 2019 elections," he said.

As the BJP has lost both Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh bypolls, the party will analyse the causes of defeat in due course. The party has fought elections on the development plank, but a communal undertone to Indian politics cannot be denied.

According to MHA data, the country has recorded a spike in the number of communal riots in 2017 and Uttar Pradesh has topped the list. The highest number of communal incidents in 2017 were reported in Uttar Pradesh where 44 people were killed and 542 others were injured in 195 communal incidents.

The highest number of communal incidents in 2017 were reported in Uttar Pradesh where 44 people were killed and 542 others were injured in 195 communal incidents.

16:48 (IST)

Victory and loss two faces of same coin in democracy: UP Dy CM Dinesh Sharma

Speaking to Times Now, Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said, "We have learnt from every defeat. We are the party who won just two seats in Lok Sabha once upon a time and have today come back with 3/4th majority. So victory and loss are the two faces of same coin. We will sit together and analyse what went wrong."

"It is clear from the by-poll results that voters are angry with BJP&they will vote for the non-BJP candidate who has strongest chance of winning. As far as, Congress is concerned,we are committed towards re-building the Party in UP, and it does not happen overnight," Rahul tweeted in Hindi.

Samajwadi Party's win in Gorakhpur result of BSP's unconditional support

According to veteran journalist JP Shukla, Samajwadi Party's lead in both seats is because of the shift of the BSP vote banks. He said that SP did a lot of ground work and party workers were camping in both the constituencies from many days.

However, on the long-term future of the SP-BSP alliance, he said that it will be very difficult for both parties to work together in future given their past rivalry, and if they want to come together then they should have a formula otherwise this arrangement is not going to stay long.

15:56 (IST)

Gorakhpur bypoll result: Latest Tally

The Samajwadi Party is leading with 25,870 votes in the Lok Sabha constituency.

Nowhere is BJP's defeat in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh bypolls was as surprising as in Yogi Adityanath's Gorakhpur. A ground report found out that healthcare facility was the key issue in the run-up to Sunday's bypolls.

According to a report by the Directorate of National Vector Borne Diseases Control Programme, as many as 26,686 cases of vector-borne encephalitis were reported in Uttar Pradesh between 2010 and 2017. Most of these cases were reported in Gorakhpur

Though four decades have passed since encephalitis was first reported in the state, governments have employed little to no pre-emptive measures to contain the deadly disease. Even as the administration is accused of sustained apathy, the voters who had queued up for the bypoll on Sunday were unanimous in saying that healthcare facilities remain their prime area of concern.

An EC official said the commission has sought clarification from Rautela after he reportedly stopped media from entering the counting area. Rautela also stopped counting personnel from giving updates to media.

Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Uttam Patel had complained to the State Chief Election Officer in a letter stating that people and media were removed from the counting center in Gorakhpur. Patel also alleged that the district administration is working towards making the BJP candidate win.

15:22 (IST)

In a rare political event, BSP, SP come together in celebrating bypoll win

In a rare political coming together of old rivals, Bahujan Samajwadi Party chief Mayawati congratulated Leader of Opposition and Samajwadi Party member Ram Govind Choudhury for their win in Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls.

Man behind media gag in Gorakhpur: Rajiv Rautela was suspended by HC in December 2017

In December 2017, the Allahabad High Court had ordered the suspension of two district magistrates — Rajiv Rautela and Rakesh Kumar Singh — in a case related to illegal mining from Kosi River in Rampur district. Rautela and Singh were accused of promoting illegal mining during their tenure as district magistrates in Rampur despite the ban on mining in Uttar Pradesh.

The Allahabad High Court had also directed the UP chief secretary to take disciplinary action against the two DMs and submit a report on 16 January, 2018. The High Court had given instructions to investigate the role of administrative and police officials in the case and to take departmental action. There is no word on that report.

Amid all this, the man behind the unprecendented gag order on the media happens to be Rautela. Setting up a huge political controversy, officials in Gorakhpur - the home base of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath - blacked out the counting for parliamentary bypolls and banned the media allegedly as soon as trends started favouring the opposition candidate over that of the ruling BJP. Rautela reportedly walked into the counting centre and stopped personnel from giving updates to the media.

The Lucknow Assembly was also adjourned over this issue as Opposition created ruckus in the House.

14:23 (IST)

Samajwadi Party steadily built-up the gap

The Samajwadi Party took early lead, right from the beginning of the vote count, and steadily built up the gap with its BJP rivals as officials furiously counted the tens of thousands of votes polled in the Sunday by-elections, IANS reports.

After the 10th round of counting in Phulpur, BJP's Kashlendra Singh Patel had secured 1,06,534 votes and the Samajwadi Party's Nagendra Singh Patel 122,247 — a lead of 15,713 votes.

14:11 (IST)

SP workers raise bua-Bhateeja zindabad slogans

As Samajwadi Party raced ahead of BJP in both Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha constituencies, party workers of BSP and SP raised 'bua-bhateeja zindabad' slogans.

Dubbed as the arch-rival in the regional political arena, Mayawati and Akhilesh decided to be partners for the ongoing bypolls to counter the BJP in the state. The saffron party had steamrolled SP and BSP in last year's state Assembly election.

SP leader writes to SEC officer over the issue of media being kept out of counting centre in Gorakhpur

Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Uttam Patel writes to State Chief Election Officer stating that people and media were removed from the counting center in Gorakhpur. Patel also alleged that the district administration is working towards making the BJP candidate win.

According to sources inside counting centre, Samajwadi Party is ahead with 1,11,668 votes while the BJP is trailing second with 97,369 votes. Independent candidate Ateeq has 14,454 votes while the Congress has fallen way behind with 5,130 votes.

12:32 (IST)

GORAKHPUR: Samajwadi Party widens gap; ahead with 74,077 votes

According to sources inside the counting centre, Samajwadi Party has raced past the BJP and is leading with 74,077 votes in Gorakhpur while BJP is trailing behind with 70,317 votes.

12:21 (IST)

SP-BSP workers celebrate after party leads in both Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies

GORAKHPUR: Samajwadi Party leads with 59,960 votes, confirms District Magistrate

Tallies after four rounds of counting is out. District Magistrate Rajiv Rautela tells Firstpost that Samajwadi Party is ahead with 59.960 votes while the BJP is second with 56,945 votes. Congress is at abysmal 2,386 votes.

Inputs by Gaurav Tripathi, 101Reporters

11:59 (IST)

PHULPUR: Samajwadi Party leads with 99,557 votes; BJP second with 87,326 votes

After eight rounds of counting, ANI reports Samajwadi Party candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel leading with 99,557 votes while BJP candidate Kaushlendra Singh Patel is second with 87,326 votes after eight round of counting.

I firmly believe that we will win both #Gorakhpur & #Phulpur, SP is leading in initial rounds but a number of rounds are still left. I know the voters of that area, we will have a win with a comfortable margin of a lakh: UP Dy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya pic.twitter.com/JUqmpzIAnz

Sonia Gandhi may have invited 20 Opposition leaders at her residence on Tuesday night for dinner politics, and it did make for big headlines and good optics, but things are not looking good at all for Congress. Phulpur, which used to be Jawaharlal Nehru's constituency, is showing a sizeable lead in favour of Samajwadi Party, which went into an unofficial alliance with BSP, with BJP in close pursuit. The Congress is nowhere to be seen.

So far, according to a CNN-News18 report, the Congress seems to have garnered just over a thousand votes. The situation in Gorakhpur, where BJP is comfortably leading, is similar. It is to be noted that Akhilesh Yadav refused to tie up with Congress ahead of the bypoll, perhaps disillusioned with Congress' role in the 'UP ke ladke' debacle. These developments raises questions on the relevance of Congress in national politics.

11:29 (IST)

Lack of observer delaying results in Gorakhpur

There is no observer to sign the sheets, hence the delay, says Gorakhpur district manager Rajiv Rautela.

— Input by Gaurav Tripathi, 101 Reporters

11:26 (IST)

BJP leads by slender margin in Gorakhpur

Sources at the Gorakhpur counting centres have said the BJP is leading by just 1,900 votes in the city at the end of the eighth round of counting. However, the DM officials aren't informing details about the seat tallies.

— Input by Saurabh Sharma/101Reoporters

11:20 (IST)

Why SP's tie-up with BSP may work, but its alliance with Congress failed in Uttar Pradesh

Samajwadi Party's lead in Phulpur constituency of Uttar Pradesh bypoll elections gives an idea of the way 'gathbandhan' politics must shape up if BJP has to be defeated. Any anti-BJP 'gathbandhan' won't do. It has to be the right mix of voter base and vote transfers for the alliance to work. This is why SP's tie-up with Congress during the Assembly polls didn't work, but its alliance with Mayawati's BSP, might. The SP candidate's lead in Phulpur is just over 3,000 votes, but there are enough indications that this coming together of bua and bhatija is inevitable if the BJP juggernaut has to be stopped. This doesn't augur well for Congress though.

11:16 (IST)

BJP leading in Gorakhpur, but only just

11:13 (IST)

Four rounds of counting done in Gorakhpur

Four rounds of counting have been done in Gorakhpur, but Election Commission officials are not disclosing anything now.

Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypoll results latest updates: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav shared the credit of his victory with Mayawati's BSP and other smaller parties that supported his party's candidates. He said that the BJP losing in chief minister's bastion and deputy chief minister's constituency is a strong political message even at the national level.

Samajwadi Party's Praveen Kumar Nishad has won the Gorakhpur seat by over 21,000 votes defeating the BJP for the first time in 26 years. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has conceded defeat and has said that the party was caught upreared in the face of last minute SP-BSP combine.

In a huge blow to the ruling BJP, the Samajwadi Party candidate Nagendra Patel won the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat with 59,613 votes defeating BJP's Kashlendra Singh Patel.

Samajwadi Party's Praveen Kumar Nishad is ahead of the BJP with over 28,000 votes, the latest tally shows. After the 19th round of counting, SP is at 2,93,153 votes and BJP is at 2,64,416 votes.

As Samajwadi Party raced ahead of BJP in both Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha constituencies, party workers of BSP and SP raised 'bua-bhateeja zindabad' slogans.

Dubbed as the arch-rival in the regional political arena, Mayawati and Akhilesh decided to be partners for the ongoing bypolls to counter the BJP in the state. The saffron party had steamrolled SP and BSP in last year's state Assembly election.

In what might seem as a major upset for chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati-Akhilesh partnership in Gorakhpur has edged past the BJP. According to data given by Election Commission, the Samajwadi Party is ahead of the BJP with 11,9427 votes. The BJP is trailing behind with 10,8829 votes.

After first four rounds of counting in Gorakhpur, District Magistrate Rajiv Rautela told Firstpost that Samajwadi Party is leading with 59,960 votes. Bharatiya Janata Party is close second with 56,945 votes. Congress stands at an abysmal 2,386 votes. The BJP's lead in Gorakhpur is very slender, down to just 1,900 votes. But with no observer to sign the forms, official statistics aren't out yet.

BJP's candidate from Phulpur Kaushlendra Singh Patel spoke to the media and said that early trendsdo not mean much. "BJP will win with a huge mandate," Patel says.

The latest updates from the Election Commission said that the Samajwadi Party is leading with 12,383 votes in Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency while the BJP is trailing with 9,906 votes.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken an early lead in Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency while the Samajwadi Party is leading in Phulpur. In Gorakhpur, a seat represented by Yogi Adityanath for five consecutive terms, the Samajwadi Party has fielded Praveen Kumar Nishad, the son of Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad, as its candidate. Nishad will take on the BJP’s Upendra Shukla and Congress leader Surhita Chatterjee Karim. In Phulpur, the Samajwadi Party has fielded Nagendra Singh Patel, an OBC leader. Patel will contest against BJP candidate and fellow OBC leader Kaushlendra Singh Patel, who has also been Varanasi mayor.

An official of the Election Commission told Firstpost that Akhilesh Yadav-led and backed by Mayawati Samajwadi Party is leading from Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency. According to latest updates, Upendra Dutt Sharma of BJP is leading from Gorakhpur.

Counting has begun for the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat. The main contenders from this crucial constituency are Kaushalendra Singh Patel from the BJP, Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel from SP, Manish Mishra from the Congress

The announcement by the Mayawati led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to support Samajwadi Party’s candidate has made these bypolls very interesting as the results of these polls will decide on future alliance of the arch-rivals. The arrangement between the parties has left BJP in an uneasy position and entire BJP machinery had to do a war like campaigning on both the seats. The direct fight is between SP, BSP and BJP.

The elections see a triangular contest between the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-backed Samajwadi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress which chose to fight the elections on its own. The results of the Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypolls will be announced on Wednesday and the results can be significant in light of the 2019 general elections.

The BJP, which has an overwhelming majority in the state Assembly, has nothing to lose in terms of number, but the polls can be a precursor to the general elections next year. Moreover, it will also be interesting to see whether Adityanath and Maurya, both stalwarts in their party, can transfer their support base to the new BJP candidates.

However, the stakes are also high for the Opposition after BSP chief Mayawati went out of character and announced support to the Samajwadi Party candidates.

Low voter turnout was recorded at both the constituencies. The polling was Forty-three percent voters cast their mandate in the Gorakhpur parliamentary constituency on Sunday while Phulpur recorded an even lesser 37.39 percent turnout as the crucial bypolls to the two Lok Sabha seats were held peacefully, the state election office said.

In Phulpur, the poorest polling was reported from Allahabad (East) where only 21.65 percent voters turned up to exercise their franchise, followed by Allahabad (West) with 31 percent.

Snags in the electronic voting machines (EVMs) were reported from some places. Polling was held up at Kidwai College in Allahabad (East) for some time due to a technical glitch.

In Gorakhpur, the lowest voter turnout of 33 percent was in Gorakhpur city, and the highest 47 percent in Sahjanwa and Campierganj. Both Chief Minister Adityanath and Maurya claimed victory for the BJP candidates, irrespective of the voter turnout in the two seats.

After casting his vote, a beaming Adityanath told reporters that the "BJP continues to get a groundswell of public support since they are witnessing development, peace and prosperity under its government". He also denied the influence of the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance on the bypoll results.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded Praveen Nishad in Gorakhpur. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) have extended support to the SP candidate. The Congress is fighting on its own and has named Surahita Kareem as its candidate.